SLOW MONEY 2014 was our largest event to date, with over 850 attendees from 46 states, Canada and France, and 6,000 watching via live stream. Highlights included the successful completion of our first BEETCOIN campaign, the release of our first State of the Sector Report, and a series of Town Hall Meetings and entrepreneur group conversations, with active audience participation throughout.

On the right, you can view the event's highlight video. You can also view all the plenary proceedings that happened in the main hall on our YouTube channel.

We are extremely grateful to everyone who made this gathering a tremendous success. Stay tuned for details regarding the next Slow Money gathering.

Slow Money 2014

Louisville, KY, November 10–12

Since our inaugural national event in 2009, Slow Money gatherings have emerged as a significant new venue for field building, investing, and social change. The events feature food entrepreneurs who are leading the way rebuilding local food systems, along with many renowned thought leaders in agriculture, investing, and philanthropy.

Here’s what a few first-time attendees said after last year’s event:

“As a first-timer to the Slow Money gathering, I was blown away. I found the event moving, provocative, inspirational, daunting, overwhelming and heartwarming. I left the meeting wondering what I could do personally as well as professionally to galvanize, encourage or participate in the happy, healthy, positive change that you, your colleagues and all the participants believe in and are making happen.”

Mary McBryde, Lyme Timber, a mission-related investing firm

“I am not sure if you have ever had the experience of listening to a few words spoken in a certain order at a certain time and having them act like a key, unlocking deeper understanding. The Slow Money event was like that for me.”

Dominick Sekich, Moye White LLP, attorneys at law

We’re very pleased that this year’s event is being planned in collaboration with Wendell Berry’s daughter Mary, Executive Director of the recently formed Kentucky-based Berry Center.

For many decades, Wendell Berry has been a beacon for all people interested in small farms, agrarian culture, and a connection between agriculture and economic fundamentals. “I am proud to be associated with Slow Money and pleased to welcome them to Louisville this November for their annual gathering,” states Mary Berry.

Slow Money gatherings have attracted thousands of people from 36 states and several foreign countries. Since mid-2010, over $38 million has flowed from Slow Money funders to more than 350 small food enterprises, mostly in the US and a few abroad. Twenty-one local networks and 13 investment clubs have formed.

“What a pleasure to be part of a gathering that wasn't just talking about the future but bending it! Slow Money is one of the keys to a healthy future.”

Bill McKibben, Founder, 350.org

“Combine poisonous factory-farm tomatoes with disgraced investment banker Bernard Madoff. Throw in a stock market disaster. You get a public spooked by the dangers of industrial food production and investors wary of risky business. This may be the recipe for a Slow Money revolution.”